This thread was inspired by this, since Shweta gave me a lot to think about with her question about changing her MC's name to reflect the history of her world.
I didn't go all con-worldy, because I shamelessly cribbed from medieval Europe (England, France, Spain + the Maghreb) for inspiration. I did twist world history and geography pretty significantly, but many of you will probably be all, "Pssh. How not creative is SHE." My world-building is in the same vein as George RR Martin or Jim Butcher -- if you know a bit about world history, you'll likely be able to guess where I got my inspiration.
I have no Roman Empire (instead, I have a Slavic combination called, loosely, "The Empire of the Bears"). They tried several times to conquer my main country, but were never able to. (The last time they tried, one of the tribal queens slaughtered them all, an event which plays a large role in the story)
I also have no Christianity. The religion of my world is "The Wheel", with gods and goddesses loosely based on the Tarot. The main language is Cairdic (English, natch), with a tribal language based loosely on Old English, with some Gaelic loanwords.
Most of the names of my characters are Gaelic/Celtic/English/a little Germanic in origin. IE, George, Richard, Henry for three princes, and Gwen (Gwenydd), Maggie (Magalyn), Tabby (Tabitha) and Ilya for my MCs.
Shweta's thread made me go all OCD and check the origins of my names. Most of them are either slightly twisted Gaelic-ish (Gwenydd) or straight made up (Magalyn), but a couple are suspect.
Jonas (major character)
James (major)
George (major)
Simon (exists in my history)
Margot (ditto)
Jeanne (minor daughter of the Cairdic king and his foreign queen)
Jacqueline (minor)
Would those names bug you? Or would you neither notice nor care if you did?
Thanks!
Bottom Line Up Front: In a world that has key differences from ours, would you be jarred out of the story by names that have biblical or latinate origin? (Ie, James, Jeanne, Jonas?)
I didn't go all con-worldy, because I shamelessly cribbed from medieval Europe (England, France, Spain + the Maghreb) for inspiration. I did twist world history and geography pretty significantly, but many of you will probably be all, "Pssh. How not creative is SHE." My world-building is in the same vein as George RR Martin or Jim Butcher -- if you know a bit about world history, you'll likely be able to guess where I got my inspiration.
I have no Roman Empire (instead, I have a Slavic combination called, loosely, "The Empire of the Bears"). They tried several times to conquer my main country, but were never able to. (The last time they tried, one of the tribal queens slaughtered them all, an event which plays a large role in the story)
I also have no Christianity. The religion of my world is "The Wheel", with gods and goddesses loosely based on the Tarot. The main language is Cairdic (English, natch), with a tribal language based loosely on Old English, with some Gaelic loanwords.
Most of the names of my characters are Gaelic/Celtic/English/a little Germanic in origin. IE, George, Richard, Henry for three princes, and Gwen (Gwenydd), Maggie (Magalyn), Tabby (Tabitha) and Ilya for my MCs.
Shweta's thread made me go all OCD and check the origins of my names. Most of them are either slightly twisted Gaelic-ish (Gwenydd) or straight made up (Magalyn), but a couple are suspect.
Jonas (major character)
James (major)
George (major)
Simon (exists in my history)
Margot (ditto)
Jeanne (minor daughter of the Cairdic king and his foreign queen)
Jacqueline (minor)
Would those names bug you? Or would you neither notice nor care if you did?
Thanks!